Editing Sebastian Münster (section)

==Life==
[[File:Cosmographia (Sebastian Münster) 706.jpg|thumb|150px|Münster's ''[[Cosmographia (Sebastian Münster)|Cosmographia]]'']]

He was born in [[Ingelheim]], near [[Mainz]], the son of Andreas Münster. His parents and other ancestors were farmers.<ref name=mapforum/><ref name=BKM>{{cite encyclopedia|author1=Horst Robert Balz |author2=Gerhard Krause |author3=Gerhard Müller |author3-link= Gerhard Müller (Lutheran theologian)|publisher= [[De Gruyter]]|encyclopedia=[[Theologische Realenzyklopädie]]|title=Münster, Sebastian (1488–1552)|volume=23|year=1994|isbn=3-11-013852-2|page=407|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jwd_lhDN9b4C&q=sebastian+m%C3%BCnster+%22s+408%22&pg=PA407}}</ref>
In 1505, he entered the [[Franciscan order]]. Four years later, he entered a monastery where he became a student of Konrad Pelikan for five years.<ref name=mapforum/> Münster completed his studies at the [[University of Tübingen]] in 1518. His graduate adviser was [[Johannes Stöffler]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=127365 |title=Mathematics Genealogy Project |publisher=Genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu |access-date=5 June 2012}}</ref>[[File:Munster Tabula Novarum Insularum 1540 UTA.jpg|thumb|''Tabula Novarum Insularum'', 1540]]He left the Franciscans for the [[Lutheran Church]] in order to accept an appointment at the [[Reformed Church]]-dominated [[University of Basel]] in 1529.<ref name="BKM" /><ref name="eb">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Münster, Sebastian}}</ref> He had long harboured an interest in [[Lutheranism]], and during the [[German Peasants' War]], as a monk, he had been repeatedly attacked.<ref name="BKM" /> A professor of [[Hebrew (language)|Hebrew]], and a disciple of [[Elias Levita]], he edited the [[Hebrew Bible]] (2 vols. fol., Basel, 1534–1535), accompanied by a [[Latin]] translation and a large number of annotations. He was the first German to produce an edition of the Hebrew Bible.<ref name="eb9">{{Cite EB9|wstitle=Münster, Sebastian|volume=17}}</ref>

He published more than one Hebrew grammar, and was the first to prepare a ''Grammatica Chaldaica'' (Basel, 1527). His lexicographical labours included a ''Dictionarium Chaldaicum'' (1527), and a ''Dictionarium trilingue'' for Latin, Greek, and Hebrew in 1530.<ref name="eb9" />

He released a ''Mappa Europae'' (map of Europe) in 1536. In 1537, he published a Rabbinical translation of the [[Rabbinical translations of Matthew|Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew]] which he had obtained from [[Sephardic Jew|Spanish]] ''[[Converso]]s''. In 1540 he published a Latin edition of [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Geographia]]'' with illustrations. The 1550 edition contains cities, portraits, and costumes. These editions, printed in Germany, are the most valued of this work. Other writings that followed are ''Horologiographia'' (a treatise on dialling – constructing [[sundial]]s, Basel, 1531), and ''Organum Uranicum'' (a treatise on the planetary motions, 1536).<ref name="eb" />[[File:Back side of map Novae lnsulae XXVI Nova Tabula. CTASC.jpg|thumb|Novae lnsulae XXVI Nova Tabula (1552)]]His ''[[Cosmographia (Sebastian Münster)|Cosmographia]]'' of 1544 was the earliest description of the world in the [[German language]]. It had numerous editions in different languages including [[Latin]], [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[English language|English]], and even [[Czech language|Czech]]. The ''Cosmographia'' was one of the most successful and popular works of the 16th century. It passed through 24 editions in 100 years.<ref>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Münster, Sebastian|year=1905}}</ref> This success was due to the fascinating [[woodcut]]s (some by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], [[Urs Graf]], [[Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch]], and [[David Kandel]]), in addition to including the first to introduce "separate maps for each of the four continents known then – America, Africa, Asia and Europe."<ref>National Library Board of Singapore. ''Visualising Space: Maps of Singapore and the Region. Collections from the National Library and National Archives of Singapore'', 2014, p. 42</ref> It was most important in reviving geography in 16th-century Europe. The last German edition was published in 1628, long after his death.
Münster was also known as translator of the Hebrew Bible (''Hebraica Biblia''). His edition was published in two volumes (1546) in Basel. The [https://books.google.com/books?id=UPOkxZJ1gOIC first volume] contains the books from Genesis to 2 Kings, following the order of the Masoretic codices. The [https://books.google.com/books?id=LsUOYBtDT-IC second volume] contains The Prophets (Major and Minor), The Psalms, Job, Proverb, Daniel, Chronicles, and the Five Scrolls (The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther).

He died at [[Basel]] of the [[Black Death|plague]] in 1552. Münster's tombstone describes him as the [[Ezra]] and the [[Strabo]] of the [[German people]].<ref name=eb9/>